


Carry On

by kerrykhat



Series: Make It Your Strength [2]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Community: tamingthemuse, Crossover, Gen, POV Character of Color
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-08
Updated: 2013-11-08
Packaged: 2017-12-31 21:13:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1036466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kerrykhat/pseuds/kerrykhat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Martha followed Agent Coulson through the labyrinth of hallways that comprised the SHIELD base, exhaustion settling in as the adrenaline from Loki's attack faded.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Carry On

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** The BBC owns "Doctor Who" and all related characters; Marvel and Disney own "The Avengers" and all related characters; I own nothing.  
>  Author's Notes: Response to the prompt "launch" for Taming the Muse over on LJ and a sequel to [Holding the Line](http://archiveofourown.org/works/434636). I was going through some fic pieces and found the start of this story and decided to finish and polish it off. Because of that, this verse is most likely going to be extremely AU for "The Avengers".

Martha Jones followed Agent Coulson through the labyrinth of hallways that comprised the SHIELD base. The adrenaline rush that had gotten her through the destruction of the New York offices of UNIT was starting to ebb, leaving her drained and exhausted. She willed her hands not to shake, even though all she wanted to do was find the nearest loo and retch until there was nothing left in her stomach.

She could still see the broken bodies of those who had given their lives to defend UNIT from the alien invasion, led by the mad man who claimed to be Loki, the Norse god of mischief. She somehow doubted that even if she lived to be a hundred she would ever erase those images from her memory, much like her memories of the Year that Never Was. All that pain, all that death and destruction, and for what? 

“Dr. Jones?”

She looked up at Agent Coulson’s voice and realized she had stopped walking. Giving him as firm of a smile as she could manage, she followed him into a small conference room.

“Would you like anything to drink?” he asked.

Part of her stomach rebelled at the thought, but she shoved down her nausea. “Tea, please,” she answered, although she doubted the quality. In her brief time in New York, she found that what she considered to be a good cup of tea and what her American co-workers thought were two vastly different things. 

Agent Coulson nodded and quietly left the conference room, leaving Martha by herself. Looking down at her hands, she wished she had remembered to bring her mobile or something to call her mum. Something to let her know that she was still alive.

Trying desperately to distract herself, Martha examined the room carefully, noting possible weapons and escape routes. It was an old habit that was hard to break. Much like the bits of the SHIELD base she had seen so far, there was a sleekness to it, all cool metal and shining glass. The table was embossed with a SHIELD logo, and at what Martha could only assume was the head was a podium of some sort. There were no adornments, giving the entire room an impersonal, almost cold feeling. She shivered, and silently hoped she was doing the right thing by coming here. 

SHIELD was a relatively new organization, although she was told it had its roots in Allied operations during World War II. Currently housed in New York City, there had been little willing contact with UNIT and SHIELD, given both their different areas of operation and secretive natures. From the mutterings of several UNIT soldiers who had met agents of SHIELD, there was no love lost between the two agencies, but given that she wasn’t sure if other branches of UNIT were still standing and SHIELD’s relative proximity, it was the first agency she had considered when planning her escape.

The door whisked open and Agent Coulson entered with a tray of tea in his hands and a clipboard under one arm. Placing the tray in front of Martha, he took a seat opposite her and withdrew a pen from his pocket. He waited while Martha prepared her tea—using more sugar than normal—before starting the debriefing.

“Can you tell me exactly what happened?” he asked.

Martha took a long sip of tea, a surprisingly good earl grey, before answering. In as steady a voice as she could manage, she described how UNIT’s New York branch, which had been devoted to research and development, had suddenly been overrun by strange aliens. How despite the best efforts of the soldiers stationed there, the aliens had slowly taken over the building. How she had led the injured to the safe room before giving the order for evacuation. How she had gone to the command room to erase the servers while doing her best to discover the invaders’ identities before escaping to UNIT. She left out destroying the Project Indigo prototype, as well as the exact nature of the vortex manipulator. 

“I’m not sure what they were searching for,” Martha confessed quietly, staring at the bottom of her empty teacup. “All Loki demanded was that I give him access to the servers, without telling me what exactly he was after.” 

“Given that all other UNIT bases haven’t been attacked, there was something specific to the facility in New York that he was after,” Coulson answered as he finished writing something down. Martha silently let out the breath she’d been holding in. At least the entire organization hadn’t been brought to its knees by this new madman bent on world domination.

“The servers are gone now. Not just wiped, but destroyed,” Martha said with a shake of her head. Even with her clearance level and her own personal investigations, she still knew very little about other projects being developed at UNIT. “I doubt even Tony Stark could put this Humpty Dumpty back together.”

Nothing in Coulson’s face gave away his thoughts at Martha’s last statement as he continued writing down notes in neat, even print. The loud ringing of the phone interrupted the otherwise silent room. Martha started at the sudden noise, which Coulson thankfully didn’t acknowledge as he answered.

“Agent Coulson,” he said. He listened for a moment before nodding. “Yes, sir.” Hanging up, he turned to Martha.

“Director Fury would like to have a word with you,” he told her, picking up his clipboard and motioning for her to follow him.

Martha slowly rose to her feet. She knew of Director Nick Fury only by reputation, whispered rumors that floated around UNIT. She tried not to pay them any attention, but they all came rushing back at this most inconvenient moment. 

“He won’t bite your head off,” Coulson told her with a slight twitch of his lips, almost as if he could read her thoughts.

“Just the effects of a long day,” Martha replied with a rueful laugh and another shake of her head. She had faced down and survived both the Master and this new madman, she reminded herself. She somehow doubted the director of SHIELD would be that much worse, even if it did come on the heels of all that had already happened today. She just wished she had been able to talk to her mum and Tish and dad and Leo before all of this.

One again, Coulson led her through a series of hallways, although this time they ended at a lift that Coulson opened with a thumbprint scan.

Martha did her best not to fidget during the long ride to the top of the tower where SHIELD was currently headquartered. She’d heard rumors of another base being built in New Mexico or somewhere else in the middle of nowhere, but that’s all there was right now. Rumors and whispers.

The doors opened to reveal a severe looking brunette dressed in a tricked out leather bodysuit.

“Agent Coulson,” she greeted him, not even glancing at Martha.

“Deputy Director Hill,” he answered back in the same tone of voice. “We’re here to see the Director.”

“He’s expecting you,” she replied before brushing past them and entering the elevator. Coulson’s eyes followed her until the doors closed, and he then turned his attention back to Martha.

“Deputy Director Maria Hill,” he explained quietly. “Director Fury’s right-hand woman.”

Martha nodded, clamping down on her frustration at being summarily dismissed like that. She didn’t know if it was intentional or if Maria Hill had other things on her mind, but it touched a little too close to old wounds from her travels with the Doctor that had never fully healed, where she was dismissed for her race, gender, or more often, a combination of the two.

“We don’t want to keep Director Fury waiting,” Coulson reminded Martha, who nodded in reply.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and stepped through into an immaculate office. There were maps and video feeds on all of the walls, all easily viewed from the desk that sat in the center of the almost windowless room. Behind it sat Nick Fury, director of SHIELD.

For the first time all day, Martha’s step faltered. Despite Coulson’s earlier reassurance, there was something about the mere sight of Nick Fury that intimidated her like very few others did. A small corner of her mind observed that it might be because of the eye patch, and Martha wasn’t too disinclined to disagree. Overall, the combination of the rumors she’d heard and the general air about him gave her the impression of a hard man. Somebody who would be dangerous to cross under any circumstance.

“You asked to see me, Director Fury?” she asked, forcing her feet to move so that she stood across the desk from him.

“Please sit, Dr. Jones.” The tone of his voice made it sound less like an invitation and more like an order. 

Martha cautiously sat in the chair opposite him and tried her best to keep her hands loosely gripped together instead of clenching them like she wanted to. She didn’t need to go into fight or flight mode, however desperately reassuring that would be right now.

Up close, Fury was even more unsettling. His lone eye studied her, giving nothing away as to what he was thinking. She focused on meeting it and not glance at his eye patch and the scars that emanated from underneath it. Fury didn’t even blink and eventually, Martha looked away.

“That’s a neat trick you pulled on Loki, Dr. Jones,” Fury stated, finally breaking the silence. “The Harry Potter references were a nice touch.”

“Thank you?” Martha half answered, half asked, a little taken aback by Fury’s comment. It wasn’t at all what she was expecting, which, now that she thought about it, might be the point.

“Of course, that doesn’t help your little stunt destroyed the servers,” he continued, leaning back in his chair. “Any guesses to what he was looking for?”

“As I already told Agent Coulson, no,” Martha replied quickly, irritation starting to war with intimidation. She had already explained this, and if this was just going to be a repeat conversation, she had other things she needed to do. Calling her family. Going back to help identify the bodies. Assess the damage to the New York base. Call Jack and ask him what he might know about both SHIELD and Loki. Something to start making sense as to why he’d attacked the base in the first place and keep the memories away for a little while longer.

“Shame. It’d been nice to what caused his attack.” Fury got to his feet and moved to one of the maps, causing Martha to turn in her seat in order to keep her eyes on him. “SHIELD will be taking point on looking into Loki’s activities. That includes his attack on UNIT’s New York base.”

“Wait, what?” Martha exclaimed, jumping to her feet, all nerves forgotten. “It was our base that was attacked, our servers he was trying to acce—” 

“SHIELD has been tracking Loki for some time, Dr. Jones,” Fury answered calmly, still facing the map. “We’ve already notified UNIT Central Command in Geneva and have the approval of the World Security Council to investigate the attack.”

“Then why are you telling me this if it’s already been handled, despite the fact that as an alien attack, it should be under UNIT control?” Martha asked stiffly, doing her best to contain her anger and frustration. This was a mistake, she realized. She should have just risked going to UNIT Central Command to report to her superiors, or even to ICIS, despite the rivalry between them. Running to a new, American agency trying to prove itself? What had she been thinking?

“What have you heard about SHIELD’s mission, Dr. Jones?”

“That it was designed to serve as America’s specialized response to threats within their borders,” she answered, not bothering to hide the irritation in her voice. She wasn’t surprised at Fury’s change in subject, however slight it might be. All she could do right now was see where it led.

“What if I told you that in order to do that, SHIELD putting together a team?” He turned around to face her, hands clasped behind his back.

“A team?”

“A team designed to handle threats like Loki,” Fury continued as if he hadn’t heard Martha’s interruption as he walked back towards his desk. “Or the Abomination, if you remember the Harlem incident from last year. Even help with those alien incursions that seem to happen all the time in London, if need be. SHIELD’s purpose is greater than most realize.”

Martha remembered looking over the aftermath of the Harlem incident, as he termed it. UNIT hadn’t officially been involved, but she had followed it using both official channels and unofficial whispers. Lazarus’ experiment in her mind, she kept her mouth shut whenever one of her coworkers would mutter how there was no way aliens weren’t involved, that there was no way humans would have been able to change their bodies to that extreme on their own. 

“And who would this team consist of? Iron Man?” Martha asked, skepticism coloring her question. She’d followed the train wreck that was Tony Stark through Tish. Her sister had been critiquing the PR of the whole recent mess as some strange form of therapy, or at least, that’s how Martha understood it. She and her sister didn’t talk much about the year Tish had spent aboard _The Valiant_.

“We’ve decided to go a different direction, although Mr. Stark has volunteered to continue in a consulting position. We’re currently exploring all other options.”

From the slight twitch of his mouth, Martha would put money on there being more to the story.

“Why are you telling me this?” Martha asked, looking at Fury directly in the eye. “This isn’t something that you explain to somebody from another agency, especially about something that so far hasn’t left SHIELD. Even under these circumstances.” 

“I’ve had my eye on you for a while, Dr. Jones,” Fury replied, leaning back in his chair. For a second, Martha thought she spotted a smile lurking around the edges of his mouth, but it disappeared before she could be sure.

_Since The Valiant_ , Martha thought to herself, but kept silent. It was nothing more than a guess, but at this point, she wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.

“You’re intelligent, driven, and your background isn’t anything to cough at,” he continued. Martha could have sworn there was a glint in his eye. “Exactly the type of qualifications we need here at SHIELD.”

“Somehow I doubt I’m what you’re looking for in this team of yours,” Martha said in a dry voice. “I’m a doctor, not a…”

“There’s no need to quote Star Trek at me, Dr. Jones. I think you’re giving yourself too little credit about the asset you could be to SHIELD. And besides, the team needs a doctor who can handle the… _stranger_ aspects of the job.”

“So you’re trying to poach me from UNIT? Work for you here at SHIELD?”

“You should consider it, Dr. Jones,” Fury answered. “Think of it this way, working with SHIELD might be the only way you find out what Loki was looking for when he invaded your base.”

Martha pursed her lips, but remained silent. He had a point, damn the man. 

“Take some time, Dr. Jones,” he continued when she didn’t answer. “Agent Coulson will show you out.”

Martha quietly got to her feet and exited the room. Thankfully, her legs didn’t quiver while she walked.

“I see he made you the offer,” Coulson said as soon as the elevator doors closed and they started down.

“You knew that he was going to do that?”

“I had a suspicion. The Director looks for the best for this project of his, and he’s been trying to find a doctor that would be up to the challenges.”

“I need to think about it,” Martha replied quietly, looking straight ahead. She had so many questions, about Loki, about why he had invaded the New York base, about what exactly Fury knew about her. “It’s a little much after the day I’ve had.”

“Understandable. If you make up your mind, here’s my card,” Coulson told her as the elevator reached the ground floor. “One of our agents will drive you home. Have a good day, Dr. Jones.”

“And you as well, Agent Coulson,” she replied, taking his card and pocketing it. Giving him one last smile, she walked out of SHIELD’s lobby and out onto the bustling New York City street. Slipping into the unmarked black SUV parked out front, she sagged into the seat as soon as the door closed. All she wanted to do was sleep, but she needed to call her family to let them know that she was still alive, and then call Jack. She needed to pick his brain—and his databases—on a few subjects before she could sleep.

She only hoped that the inevitable exhaustion would help keep the nightmares away.


End file.
